Alekbaylee

At least/last, Quebec Regulators allow MERC bid... http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/quebec-regulators-allow-mercer-bid-for-fibrek-halt-trading-in-special-warrants-140298263.html ABH : :P

FBK appeals the BDR decision. http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/927105/fibrek-to-appeal-decision-cease-trading-private-placement-of-special-warrants Hubert T. Lacroix, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fibrek added: "We were surprised to learn during the hearing that in mid-November 2011, only two weeks before signing a hard lock-up agreement with Abitibi for a $1.00 offer, Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited refused to sell its common shares of Fibrek to Mercer for a superior value than that of the Abitibi bid, after having been approached by Mercer. "We also realized that Steelhead Partners, LLC, who has indicated in writing having tendered its common shares of Fibrek to Abitibi, has accumulated 96% of its 6,479,000 common shares of Fibrek after the Abitibi bid was announced. It appears that the majority of those purchases were made at a price above the $1.00 Abitibi bid. One could ask 'what is the business purpose of entering into such a trade?' This is a troubling question. It seems strange that any investor would buy shares at prices above $1.00, only to tender them to a lower bid, and this when there is a superior offer by Mercer on the table, at $1.30. It is important to note that Steelhead owns 13% of the outstanding common shares of Abitibi valued at approximately $200 million, with Abitibi representing approximately 15% of the Steelhead portfolio," concluded Mr. Lacroix. To Fibrek's knowledge, Abitibi has not obtained all regulatory approvals required to satisfy the conditions of its offer and has not waived its minimum tender condition of 66 2/3%. Consequently, Abitibi is not currently in a position to take up and pay for any Fibrek common shares tendered under its bid which are subject to the right of withdrawal.

As of the close of business on February 10, approximately 66 million common shares of Fibrek had been deposited to the offer, representing approximately 52% of the outstanding common shares. As of the close of business on February 23, 2012 approximately 67 million common shares of Fibrek had been deposited to Resolute's offer, representing approximately 51.5% of the outstanding common shares. So in 2 weeks, they managed to get only another 1 M shares, for roughly the same percentage. I doubt they will get to the needed threshold without increasing their bid up a bit. Interesting to watch.

As a result of the rise in catastrophes, insurance premiums are also rising, and so now is actually a good time to be writing such business, Mr. Watsa added. “The big advantage is that when this happens, pricing goes through the roof. The pricing in Japan has gone up very significantly, and pricing in Thailand is going up. When I say ‘significantly,’ I’m talking 50 to 100 per cent, big price increases.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/watsa-sticks-to-his-guns-as-pessimism-proves-costly/article2341221/

The whole thing was badly handled from day 1 if you ask me. Why not start with a friendly and fair bid and, above all, negotiate with the target as business partners are supposed to do. Why start by back-stabbing and then complain the victim is (over)reacting and should accept the fact? This is beyond my understanding. Enough ranting from me for today.

The battle turning bitter instead of better... http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/922523/fibrek-fights-for-the-right-of-its-shareholders-to-accept-a-superior-offer-company-to-vigorously-oppose-abitibi-s-application-to-cease-trade-the-1-30- "Despite the results of an independent formal valuation that puts the value of Fibrek shares between $1.25 and $1.45 per share, and in the face of a significantly superior offer at $1.30 per share from Mercer, both Abitibi and Fairfax continue their tactics to allow Abitibi to acquire Fibrek at $1.00 per share," said Hubert T. Lacroix, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fibrek. "We would also like to remind shareholders that Fairfax and Steelhead are not only shareholders of Fibrek, but also important shareholders of Abitibi. The Mercer offer is fair and respects the rights and interests of all our shareholders and we will vigorously oppose Abitibi's application to block it," continued Mr. Lacroix. President and Chief Executive Officer Pierre-Gabriel Côté added: "Our shareholders have been presented with two offers, Abitibi's offer at $1.00 and Mercer's offer at $1.30. Abitibi's application to cease trade the superior Mercer offer is a blatant attempt to abuse the regulatory process to prevent our shareholders from receiving superior value. In addition to providing additional liquidity to Fibrek, the warrants have been designed to level the playing field against abusive lock-up arrangements that favour the lower Abitibi insider bid. They have also been designed to ensure that they do not stand in the way of an offer which would be superior to Mercer's. If Abitibi wants the warrants to go away, all they have to do is make a superior offer to the Mercer offer." "Our board has worked diligently to maximize value for all our shareholders and will continue to take action not to let Abitibi, Fairfax, Oakmont, Pabrai and Steelhead, whose interests appear to be very different from our other shareholders, take advantage of our other shareholders and deprive them of a fair offer," concluded Mr. Lacroix. I doubt FBK will ever settle with ABH. After both parties loosing money in this battle, I think MERC will finally swallow FBK for the offered price. ABH's bad faith is blatant here. It acts like a spoiled child. What a waste of energy, time and money!

Makes sense, JetsFan. Was only considering the cash-only option (at $1.30). SD : You're a bit too optimistic as always. I'd be happy with $1.60. But if it ever reaches your guessestimate, I'll be more happier... ;)

Don't see any $.10 premium, only a mere $.03/.04...

I guess we have no choice but tender to the MERC offer here (i.e. not expecting any higher price) : Fibrek Inc. (FBK-T1.34----%) announced today that, in light of the Bureau de decision et de revision's (Quebec) Feb. 9, 2012 decision to issue a cease trade order with respect to Fibrek's shareholder rights plan, the Toronto Stock Exchange has determined to reject the Plan for filing. The Board of Directors continues to unanimously recommend that shareholders accept and tender their common shares to the offer made by Mercer International Inc. (MRI.U-T8.29----%) to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Fibrek by way of take-over bid and to reject and not tender their common shares to the unsolicited offer made by AbitibiBowater Inc (ABH-T15.12----%).

This is totally stupid! If ABH really wanna swallow FBK, they got to bid up. Point. Otherwise, let MERC take it and move on!

Somebody thinks it's worth more than $1.30. $1.34 right now... ABH is punished for being too greedy.

Still below my expectations. Can't believe it's being sold for less than $1.60, but then...

Not very good results for ABH... http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/breakingnews/resolute-forest-posts-6-million-fourth-quarter-loss-on-one-time-items-139006939.html

130 K in different accounts. Will not tender either. If ABH/Resolute want my share, they'd have to make a compelling offer (i.e. way higher) not steal shareholders. >:(

$0.13? Almost insulting! This puppy deserves way more than that. Maybe they could up their bid by $1.13 to $2.13. Then it would start to be interesting... ;)

Funny how people react. Down $10. so what has changed between yesterday and today. Everyone already knew the dividend was coming. No one has any idea what the exact bv is certainly not within a plus or minus 10 precision. Yeah, suspect some greedy hands were expecting a higher dividend and some shareholders took the opportunity of the recent spike to sell a bit. Shares just changed hands and will again at the ex-dividend, then just before and after the annual results go out. Business as usual...

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fairfax-declares-annual-dividend-2012-01-04-751170 Would love to see this going up a bit, to 3-5% of share price.

Does anyone know if the $16 million incremental EBITDA is per year or in total? Fibrek said it expects to gain $16 million in annual operating income from a future power-purchase agreement with Hydro-Québec covering surplus power from a new cogeneration program at its big St-Félicien softwood pulp mill in the Saguenay Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Fibrek+tried+fend+takeover+Resolute/5940745/story.html#ixzz1iQRoQTHR

FBK fights back. http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/901167/fibrek-files-directors-circular-rejecting-the-abitibibowater-insider-bid Some interesting tidbits : The Insider Bid does not provide adequate consideration for the unique value of our NBSK pulp and the strategic importance of the Saint-Félicien Mill. In addition to the production of NBSK pulp, the Saint-Félicien Mill has the ability to produce quantities of renewable electricity at low cost. Fibrek will also sell 9.5 megawatts (MW) per year of electrical power co-generated by burning biomass to Hydro-Québec, starting in December 2012, pursuant to a power supply agreement signed on February 12, 2010. Management believes that the Saint-Félicien Mill also qualifies as a renewable energy producer under the Government of Québec's new program to purchase electric power produced by cogeneration announced in October 2011. As a result, the Saint-Félicien Mill, whose existing green energy installed capacity currently stands at approximately 33 MW, could generate an incremental EBITDA of approximately $16 million in the event Fibrek were to secure a power purchase agreement for all of the mill's available megawatts, without any additional capital expenditure required. The Insider Bid also significantly undervalues Fibrek's RBK segment. In accordance with its strategic plan, Fibrek has signed a new long-term agreement on April 11, 2011 with a major tissue producer to supply, on an exclusive basis, 90,000 tonnes per year of RBK pulp under a cost-plus agreement, allowing both RBK pulp mills to base-load their business and eliminate low margin export sales. Deliveries in connection with this contract are scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2012. This take-or-pay contract will also (i) give the opportunity to reduce freight costs, (ii) improve wastepaper mix usage, and (iii) reduce exposure to wastepaper price volatility. Based on a study completed by an external consulting firm, Management believes that the additional EBITDA generated by this contract will be, on average, approximately $7 million per year. Wonder how much they're making in their new food packaging segment also. Will vote against the bid, but don't want FBK to go on a buying spree either. Just continue to clean up/strenghten the balance sheet and wait for a compelling offer to sell and unlock shareholder value.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2074994/Plans-floating-city-California-coast-house-entrepreneurs-visas.html

Most probably people wanting to take advantage (or speculating on the amount) of the next annual dividend that should be announced shortly.

Not very convincing if you ask me. The bid should have been fair. And $1 is not fair. Point. In reality, this low ball bid equals to stealing shareholders by forcing them to sell, instead of offering them a compelling reason to sell.

More news about this saga... The word "friendly" is certainly missing in this takeover attempt... "We never saw this coming at all," he said after urging shareholders not to tender their shares. The two sides haven't held discussions and Cote said he only learned of the bid when a message was left on his voice mail 10 minutes before it was announced last month. "We are very surprised that Fairfax has taken such a position. We've been exchanging with them and never expected this behaviour at all from them," added Cote. http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Fibrek-sets-roadblocks-capress-1779106915.html?x=0

Another perspective... For every 1 percent drop in investment returns, underwriting pricing has got to improve an average of 3.5 percent, "but that is not happening," Hartwig said. "As we look forward, where is the industry going to grow? The answer is in emerging markets ¿ China, the Middle East, and parts of South America," Hartwig said. "But that's also the places where there is the most political risk. So incremental growth is going to be achieved with greater risk; that's the unfortunate nexus." http://www.axisinsurance.ca/news/despite-record-catastrophe-losses-a-hard-market-remains-elusive/

Battle turning sour... http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/897411/fibrek-s-board-rejects-unsolicited-insider-bid-by-abitibibowater-and-takes-additional-measures-to-ensure-shareholders-are-treated-fairly